BUCKETS Written and Illustrated by: Jack Venturo
This is a story of life and love, Of kindness and honesty, Of sharing and compassion.
This is a story of a little boy named Wesley and a little girl named Willimina who were not so different from you or me. They live in a cabin in the middle of the woods with their Grandma Wilma who was very old and very sweet. They always took care of each other.
They have chores like everyone else and they don t mind doing them. They clean their dishes after every meal. When they finish they play and do what they feel. They clean their room, sweep the floors with a broom and take the trash out. When they finish they play games, read and hang about.
They have other tasks they have to do, like walking into town to buy food, and supplies. Out of all the chores and tasks they have to do for their little family, their favorite chore is to travel to the old well and bring back four buckets of water to be used for cooking, drinking, cleaning, bathing and growing their veggie garden. They got their buckets and bucket carriers and headed out into the woods.
They collected the water, greeted the town s people and were back on their way home. They were having a nice stroll until they saw a stinky little squirrel. Hello younglings! My name is Frederick! I was wondering if you could help me said the squirrel. I noticed that you have four buckets of water there and I have not found a lake in days to bathe in. Do you think you would be able to give me one of those buckets of water? I am ever so dirty and stinky
Willimina and Wesley felt very sad for poor Frederick. They knew in their heads that the water was for them and they would get in trouble if they gave it away. But they also knew in their hearts that it would be wrong to walk away and not help poor stinky Frederick. They decided to do what they thought was right and give him a bucket. Thank you so much younglings, this is a great day
They keep heading down the trail back home when all of a sudden they see smoke coming from a small hut where a racoon lives. Heeeelp! Heeeeelp! My house is on fire! The raccoon cried as he ran out in a panic! Wesley quickly grabbed his bucket of water and without giving it a second thought he quickly poured it on the raccoon s house, putting the fire out and saving his home. Thank you so very much for using one of your buckets of water to save my little home! I don t know what I would have done without you great kids!
They continued walking until they noticed a crying rabbit in their path. What s wrong Sir? Willimina asked My well ran dry and if I don t water my garden it will wilt and spoil and I will have nothing to eat. Willimina quickly gave him a bucket of water. The rabbit attached his garden house, watered his veggies and saved his garden. This was the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me! said the rabbit. You are very welcome. Said Willimina and Wesley.
With only one bucket left they worried more and more about how much trouble they would be in once they returned home. They were so worried they didn t notice a huge, fearsome, massive, grizzly bear was standing right in front of them. The poor bear was out of breath. Hello there little ones The bear said. Hello Mr! are you ok? Said Wesley. Oh I m very tired from running away from a hunter. I ran so long I am so very thirsty! Do you think maybe you would be able to give me that bucket of water to drink and cool off with? Said the bear. They quickly gave the bear their last bucket of water. The bear took the tiny bucket in his massive paws and drank all of the water in one giant gulp. You kids are mighty kind! said the bear.
They continued to walk home and the closer to home they got the more worried they got they would be in trouble. So they started to try to make up lies to explain what had happened with the buckets of water. Maybe we could say they were stolen by vandal gnomes or tricky elves or wretched trolls! Said Wesley. Willimina quickly jumped into the conversation with her own suggestions Or maybe we could say it was angry dwarfs or PIRATES!
Wesley stopped in his tracks. Pirates? In the middle of the woods? Grandma will never believe us! They opened the door and their grandma was sitting at her rocking chair knitting. I was beginning to worry about you two! It usually doesn t take you this long, is everything aright? Did you get everything we need? Grandma Wilma said. Wesley walked up to Grandma Wilma and said Well Grandma the truth is we got the water but on the way back home we met a little squirrel who was very stinky and needed water to bathe, then we saw a raccoon s house was on fire and he needed a bucket of water to put the fire out. Then Willimina sat next to Grandma Wilma and said Then a sad crying little Bunny was going to starve if we didn t give him water to take care of his garden so we gave HIM a bucket too! After that, a gigantic Grizzly Bear was being chased by a hunter and was very thirsty and hot and tired and he needed water so we gave him a bucket to cool down with.
So you see. We won t have enough water this week because we gave it all away Wesley and Willimina both start to cry, they were feeling so bad for giving the water away and not having enough for their family. Grandma Wilma chuckled sweetly. oh you youngsters have nothing to worry about. Stop crying this instant my wonderful grandchildren. You have made me the proudest person today We have??!!! Wesley and Willimina reply with shocked looks on their faces.
You two kids saved someone s life and home today! You made great choices by giving them what you had and sacrificing your own needs and putting someone else s needs before yours! You thought about your actions and decided what was the right thing to do and you went for it, you followed your instincts and your hearts. And then you came home and told me the truth! About what you did instead of telling me far-fetched lies. You both did the right thing and I love you both very much! Grandma Wilma said while she hugged them. THE END